The National Commemoration of the Days of Remembrance was held, in the
United States Capitol Rotunda, Washington, DC, Thursday May 5 2005, at
noon, the fifth day of the fifth month of the year 2005. Yom Hashoa, Day
of Remembrance, the event, annually held for 54 years commemorates the
liberation of the death camps in Nazi Germany. The theme for the 2005
remembrance was "From Liberation To Pursuit of Justice." The audience was
filled with survivors and liberators. President Bush wrote, " The
Holocaust was a crime against humanity. All of us are bound by conscience
to remember what happened and to whom it happened. We must never forget
the cruelty of the guilty or the courage of the victims of the Holocaust."

Opening remarks were delivered by Fred Zeidman, Chair of the United States
Holocaust Memorial Council. Processional was presented by Pershing's Own,
US Army Band under the direction of Major Jim Keene. The 3rd US Infantry
trooped the colors of the military liberating the survivors from the death
camps. Benjamin Meed, chair of the Days of Remembrance, accompanied by
Susan Eisenhower, grand daughter of military leader Dwight Eisenhower, led
the colors in to the Rotunda of the United States Capitol. Eisenhower is a
director of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the Nuclear
Threat Initiative. Benjamin Meed, born in Warsaw, POland, was a member of
the Jewish Underground, a Jew on the aryan side of the wall assisting the
Jewish Fighting organization during the 1943 uprising of the Warsaw
ghetto. Greetings were delivered by Israel's ambassador Daniel Ayalon,
followed by Vice Chair of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council,
Ruth B Mandel, speaking. Ruth Mandel was born in Vienna. She and her
parents fled the Nazi threat on a boat that was sent back to Europe. She
and her family eventually made their way to the UK and then the US. Mandel
is a founding chair of the Holocaust Msueum's Committe on Conscience.

6 memorial candles were lit by representatives of Congress accompanied by
survivors, liberators and in one case a wife whose husband recently
deceased. Molly Pritchard, grandaughter of a woman who risked her life to
save lives assisted in the candle lighting. Molly was selected in part due
to a virtual tour she developed to assist youth who cannot come to
Washington to tour the Holocaust Museum. In one day, 17 million youth
learned the atrocities of the Holocaust. Pritchard is a student at the
National Cathedral School in DC.

The keynot adress was delivered by First Lady Laura Bush. This being the
National Day of Prayer, the First Lady and President shared
responsibilities of attending events held throughout the Capitol. Chaplain
Raphael Berdugo, from Lakewood NJ, Captain in the US Air Force, sang El
Moleh Rachamim and Hymn of the Partisans, followed by David Chase, a
survivor, reciting the prayer for the dead, Kaddish. Berdugo, born in
Ireland, arrived in America after living in France and Israel. A
commissioned Air Force chaplkain, Berdugo, will soon be on active duty in
Texas at Lackland Air Force Base. Chase born in Kielce Poland was deported
at age 14. He escaped Mauthtausen's death camp during a forced death
march. Chase, one of the founders of the Museum, was liberated at age 14,
arriving one year later in America.